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Risk is the Key to Success

RUSH: This is Mike in Tucson, Arizona. Hi, Mike, welcome to the program.

CALLER: Hello Rush, dittos from sunny Tucson and thanks for everything you do. I wanted to echo everything you said the last hour. You're 100 percent correct and exactly on point, and it's been very, very true in my life. I started my company over 30 years ago, and I've been for many years in the top .5 percent and I've never struggled harder over the last five or six years than I am right now, but you go in and you go out. And one thing that doesn't change I think for people that achieve that level is their work ethic and drive, because it's not tied to money. It's like your career. You do it because you love it and you never quit. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. I also have a theory on your top one percent and why people come in and go out, if you don't mind. Unless you're born with a lot, it's kept in a trust for you, the people that achieve that, Rush, are there because they take risks. They succeed, and they continue to take risks. They're calculated.

RUSH: Let me jump in here, Mike, because there's a point here. Both of these feminist books, the Claire Shipman book and Marlo Thomas book. They're feminists who have been practicing liberal theology for the past, oh, 40 years. And what have they finally discovered? They need to learn how to risk and they need to learn how to fail. They're just coming to it, Mike. They're just now discovering what that means. You and I, you've known it all your life, but to them it's something new. It's brand new, revolutionary, why, we've got to get better at failing, meaning we've got to start taking risks. And it doesn't dovetail with what this administration is putting out. Risk taking is the root of evil in capitalism. Risk taking is what leaves people high and dry. That's what Obama wants people to believe. I just find it fascinating that several of his acolytes, particularly on the feminist left, all of a sudden now have decided that risk taking is something women need to get better at in business.

CALLER: Risk on different things in their life. I mean, that's the only way you can truly appreciate success. That's the only way you can truly achieve success, is you have to take a risk. Now, maybe it's with a relationship. Maybe it's in business. Any decision you make involves a certain amount of risk. Not all risks pay off. I mean, you try to make the best decision you can. But you keep moving forward.

RUSH: Well, risk manifests itself in a whole lot of different ways. I once had a guy ask me what level of risk he thought I was taking in my career. And I said, "I don't think much." And he looked at me and his eyes bugged out. "You don't think you're taking risks?" "No, I've got fallback positions if things don't work." He said, "You're crazy! You have no idea the risks you're putting yourself up to every day." When he explained it, I understood what he meant.